Economic Questions.

[siger]

Here in Africa, at this day and age, to walk, talk and dress like the west is what is in vogue.
Folk I know pretend to be westernized, talk with an American accent <however pathetic>, and do the whole bling issue.
It is saddening, the whole situation. Men of stature have all lost their pride, leaving us, the youth, without true mentors and heroes.
But the social disfigurement of Africa is only but a preamble to a more underlmining issue.

The rest of the world cut it out for us. Either you are capitalist, and as thus a friend, or you are communist and foe. That story has already been told. But what happens when the age of African leaders, interested in putting Africa on its feet, dies out. The likes of Nyerere, Mkapa, Nkurumah have all passed. In their wake come The westernised presidents, who drink pink champagne in tall houses.

They, and their western counterparts, insist that Africa's salvation lies in pirsuing a capitalistic environment. There is need, they claim, for those who can handle the risk, to be in control of the economy.
Now granted, i can survive in this environment, given the western education they give us. But what happens to that unknown brother hidden in a remote village.
The rich will only get richer, the rest will wallow in the dark. When the WB and IMF come to assess the progress, they look at the imported Mercedes, the grand looking mansions of the elite (or politically favoured) and they rant on about the good of their SAPs.
It is an insult to have the imperialists run our country. It is even worse to pretend we cannot see through their dung.

Think about that for good governance.

[siger]

Do you know that in my country, we import match boxes? <so what???>
Well, we also import cars, shoes, clothes, knickers and socks, watches, light bulbs, and probably anything else you can think of.
We gained "independence" in 1962. Fine, wars and political bickering set us back a few.
But the direction we are taking <us, and the rest of Africa> is the path to hell.
This is my simple definition of an economy:
-a wheel or machine that engages the resources of a people or nation to meet their needs and prosper their homes.
The basic ingredient is the people. it is their economy. It is their land, their hands, their time, their effort and thought that make this wheel go round.
Cut them out, and you have nothing.

This is the African economy. we have cut out the people. We operate such a farcade, i'm sure the western leaders smirk and laugh about the insolence and stupidity of the african. The plain truth of the matter is we have no economy, simply external markets for larger economies.
No, it is not globalisation or free trade. It is simply a joke.